Queens resident dies after striking pole, tree on Hutch in Pelham Bay Park

stock photo of police lights
A man from Queens died on Monday, Sept. 4, 2023 after crashing his vehicle in the Northeast Bronx.
Photo courtesy Getty Images

A Queens resident died on the Hutch in the early hours on Labor Day after hitting a pole and a tree.

Police responded to a vehicle collision on the Hutchinson River Parkway at about 2:43 a.m. Monday morning, near the Orchard Beach/City Island Exit 3, which sits in Pelham Bay Park in the Northeast Bronx.

According to the NYPD’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad, Walden Spence, 49, was driving a grey 2008 Infinity southbound on the parkway when he “failed to properly navigate the roadway” and hit both a light pole and a tree.

EMS pronounced Spence — a South Jamaica resident — dead on the scene, within the 45th Precinct. The investigation is ongoing.

The Bronx Times reached out to the NYPD for more information and is awaiting a response.


Reach Aliya Schneider at aschneider@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4597. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes